


The Most Beautiful Moments in Life ~Soogyu~

by Oh_My_Hyunjin



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Arcades, Blood and Violence, Bottom Choi Beomgyu, Choi Beomgyu-Centric, Choi Soobin Is Bad At Feelings, Choi Soobin-Centric, Cute Huening Kai, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, High School, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Huening Kai-Centric, Humor, Hurt Huening Kai, Implied Sexual Content, Internalized Homophobia, Love, M/M, Protective Kang Taehyun, Shy Choi Soobin, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Slow To Update, Student Choi Beomgyu, Student Choi Soobin, Student Huening Kai, Sweetheart Huening Kai, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:54:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24787288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_My_Hyunjin/pseuds/Oh_My_Hyunjin
Summary: "I like that when I'm high, I feel like I'm not here.""What kind of emo shit is that?"And the two stoned figures laying upside down on a strangers mattress laugh, they laugh at the world, and try to hold onto the most beautiful moments in life.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, Choi Soobin/Huening Kai, Huening Kai & Kang Taehyun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Waking up in the morning is no task to turn your nose up at. Simple as it may seem, you stretch, you smile at your family. Smiling takes about 26 muscles. No task to underestimate, huh? A true work out. You open your eyes to the cold morning air as you sigh from waking up from that too good dream. Maybe wishing that dream was true, but just outside your grasp of reality. Task 1:A of waking up in the morning. 

This was what a morning in the life of 17 year old Beomgyu Choi was like as he woke up to get ready for high school. The date was September 14th, 1984, just the start of Beomgyu’s third year. Really, he loathed going to school. Friends were never in his “circle of control”, some bullshit he picked up from his freshman year Economics teacher. The class taught him how to be a functioning high school student, to no true avail on Beomgyu’s part. For fucks sake the teacher would give detentions for not bringing your school ID, she said it would teach them to bring important things. Let's just say Beomgyu had to learn those lessons more than a few times. 

The boy sat up from his warm bed, shivering slightly as he took a moment to open his eyes and rub his face. He had a feeling his hair was standing in all directions, and he blindly reached for his round glasses on his nightstand. When he found them, Beomgyu slowly unfolded them, yawning as he did so. Mornings were never Beomgyu’s thing, truely. Every morning he would take ten minutes to look at his surroundings. Basically revel at the posters in his room and look out the window at the tree tops that had started to turn orange, signifying that Autumn was on its way. 

His face turned sour at the thought. Spring had always been his favorite season after all. 

Reluctantly, he swung his feet over the bed and groaned when he stretched his arms and legs out. Beomgyu was really regretting waking up, even though he knew his mom would come at his door cursing at him to wake up if he didnt right now. He never understood how his mother could be so ready and sharp in the morning. The teen put his sock covered feet on the otherwise cold hard wood floor and walked slowly toward his closet mirror. He always hated having his closet a whole ass mirror, when he was younger he was scared someone would come through the mirror and drag him into it like Bloody Mary or some shit. 6th grade especially scarred him when he had two friends over and they forced him to play Bloody Mary in his bathroom mirror. The night ended with Beomgyu’s very religious mother cursing him out in Korean about evil spirits while his two friends watched from his bedroom door. 

Beomgyu didn't really give two shits about how he looked this morning though, only taking a small glance at the mirror before turning to the left and shuffling through his middle drawer looking for a pair of pants. It was his morning ritual to randomly choose a pair of pants. Made his wardrobe choice more interesting in his opinion. Today when he took a spin at the wheel of fortune, he picked out a pair of blue pants that had big holes from his bicycle accident 3 weeks ago.

He shivered at the memory and looked at his knees, the scabs were still healing, one big bandaid still adorned his left knee. Nonetheless, he put the pants on, mindful of the wounds on his knees before turning back to the mirror. Beomgyu looked down at his own shirt, a too big Metallica ‘Ride The Lightning’ t-shirt he wore to sleep. He doesn't remember where he got it, but he was wearing it now, and that’s all that mattered to him. Nodding at his reflection, he picked up his Sony WM-15 Walkman and quickly untangled the wires to put in the small earbuds attached. Briefly looking at the cassette inside he pressed play, the familiar beat of ‘Dancing Queen’ began to play through the device in hand. Beomgyu always had a soft spot for ABBA. Him and his dad would sit in the car when he was little and sing their songs as they made their way through town in their old AMC Gremlin. He began to bop his head and move his body to the beat while he made his way toward the bathroom. Humming the chorus he jumped in front of the bathroom mirror.

“Ooh, you can dance  
You can jive  
Having the time of your life

Ooh, see that girl-” Beomgyu was roughly brought out of serenading his toothbrush, when his headphones were ripped from his ears. 

“Yah! Choi Beomgyu, what did I say about these in the morning?” His mom barked while handing the headphones back to the boy in question, toothbrush still hanging in his mouth.

Beomgyu put his hand over his chest, heart still beating fast while he reeled down from the scare his mother cast upon him. He heard her heels click out of the bathroom as he cursed at himself for not closing the door. His mom could be a real dictator sometimes. Of course he would never tell her that, as not to face her motherly rath. He stuffed the earbuds in his jean pocket as he continued to hum the song without the music on, brushing his dyed blonde hair quickly. The teen laughed when he remembered the day he came back from Yeonjun’s house with blonde hair. His mom had an aneurysm and grabbed him by the ear dragging him to the bathroom as his dad gave him a thumbs up while her back was turned.

Agreeing to himself that his hair was adequately teased he made his way to the living room, whistling as he skipped into his seat at the round table where the rest of his family sat. His mother was putting breakfast in front of his younger sister Lia, her cries of excitement making Beomgyu smile as he began to eat the toast on his plate. 

“Mom says you were listening to music in the bathroom Beomgyu.” The voice of his father rang through the silence as he flipped through his newspaper. 

“Yes, I was father. Come on I gotta get excited for school right?” He joked sarcastically while he took another bite of his food. He earned a chuckle from his dad and a knowing glare from his mom. His gaze and smile dropped as he looked at his plate.

“Well I’ll be off family.” Beomgyu announced as he jumped out of his seat with a piece of toast in his mouth, rushing to the front door and slipping his tattered high top converse. 

“Yah, Beomgyu, where did you get that shirt?” His mom asked, briefly looking his way as she put more eggs on Lia’s plate. Beomgyu gripped his shirt and looked down.

“Um, I’m not sure. Probably on loan from Yeonjun, eh I’ll get it back to him don’t worry.” 

“Didn’t you sleep in that shirt though-”

“Bye mom!” The boy put in his earbuds, grabbing his black backpack and rushing out the door, seeing his mom roll her eyes and smiling slightly. He quickly pressed play on his walkman and the beat previously ripped away from him returned. He bopped his head as he grabbed his bike from the side of the house. Finishing his toast in two big bites, he jumped on the bike and began toward school. 

He regretted not bringing a jacket as the cold morning air brushed past him as he rode through his neighborhood. The neighborhood they lived in wasn’t poor by any means, but they weren’t high class mansions either. Each house was different so to say. They had their neighbor who never really talked to them. She would yell into the night at her kids, or maybe it was her talking voice, none of them were sure. But she would play her music loud and sing along without a care in the world, though Beomgyu’s mom had to tell her to keep the noise down on more than one occasion. It never really bothered Beomgyu much as his bedroom wasn’t near her house. 

Beomgyu rode faster over a rough patch of road as his bike bumped slightly. The roads were paved, not too nice, but they weren't horrible compared to some neighborhoods Beomgu had been in. If his bike could go through it, that’s all that mattered. His high school wasn't far away and the ride was nice. He would wave at his elderly neighbors who were watering their plants and rode past other kids who were on foot, many walking to the local elementary school around the corner. His ride would be about 10 minutes by his choice of transportation. The town was rather compacted and everyone knew each other. But with a small, compacted community, came rumors. 

Beomgyu couldn't keep count on his fingers the times he’d heard nasty rumors about people in his town. It didn’t get better after the AIDS epidemic began back in June 1981. Rumors had been flying, names had been called in school, and many people, people Beomgyu knew were even diagnosed. The christian little town of Lakewood really alienated those with it, no one would want to be around them due to fear of catching it, or now knowing men with it were gay. Of course women got it, but not as frequently as gay men did. Beomgyu remembers his mom telling him to be careful when he rode into town, or not to hang around certain people. He complied for once, it may have been a cowardly move, but the whole situation was scary to him. 

If he was honest, the disease itself didn’t scare him, it was the social aspect. He remembers the countless times he would see the football team push scrawny freshman, including him into lockers and call them ‘faggots’. It didn’t happen to him so much anymore, but he sure as hell still witnessed it. He would never engage. Walk into a bathroom and see a tall football player and his friends shoving a kid's face down the toilet, turn the other way if you don't want it to happen to you. After AIDS broke out the bullying got more intense. Two lyncings even happened to two men in a back alley. 5 men had ganged up on them and beat the two guys to death with items in the alleyway and their fists. With no witnesses and the testimony from the attackers that the ‘fags had it coming when they decided to make out in their alleyway’ the town police let them off. He remembered reading about the whole situation in his father's newspaper. It chilled him to the core. 

But he didn't have a reason to be scared, right? 

Beomgyu slowed his bike as he turned the corner and his high school came into view. The sign with the black letters read ‘Lakewood High: Home to the Lakewood Hawks’. Students were getting out of their cars, or hanging out by them, laughing and talking before school started. Some were riding bikes like he was now, riding skateboards, walking, hell there was even a group of girls on roller blades. He recognized them as the girls who always hung out at the roller rink on the weekend. He heard that one of their dads owned the rink and let them in for free. It seemed plausible, and smart in Beomgyu’s opinion. 

Breaking on his bike, he unmounted and chained it to the bike rack with his lock. Making sure it was locked, he got up and began walking onto the campus. Adjusting his glasses he kept his gaze low and listened to Michael Jackson through his headphones. He looked up briefly to see his friend Yeonjun sitting at the red bench with all the usual theater kids, except there was a new addition. He was sitting on the table with his feet on the bench seat, looked some sort of asian and was tall as hell. Beomgyu would've thought he would be playing basketball if he wasn’t sitting at the ‘social rejects’ table. He didn’t know if people knew they called them that, but the kids who sat there didn’t seem to care if they knew. They were laughing and running around just like any other group. 

Beomgyu quickly looked back down when the tall boy looked up from the girl he was talking to and noticed the blonde boy staring. The teen quickened his pace to the bathroom and shoved the door open, sighing in relief as the area seemed to be empty. The stalls of the bathroom had walls all the way to the ground on each side, Beomgyu was thankful for that everyday. When he chose a stall he threw his backpack on the floor before sliding down the wall, not fully sitting but crouching. He put his head in the arms and listened to the music play. 

Things had been this way ever since 8th grade, when he didn’t have his middle school english teacher to hang out with anymore in the mornings. Spending the morning out in the courtyard by himself with everyone watching brought too much anxiety to him. He was scared of what people thought of him as he sat down at an empty lunch bench and brought out his homework. Beomgyu didn’t think he looked particularly nerdy. With his choice of clothes and unbothered façade, people learned to leave him alone. And he rather liked it that way. Being by himself brought a sense of peace. Well he wasn’t too lonely. 

Beomgyu flinched when the bathroom stall began to shake violently, laughter soon erupting when Beomgyu removed one of his earbuds. He rolled his eyes as the devil himself presented himself before the bathroom stall. 

“Haha you’re so funny Yeonjun.” The blonde shook his head and looked at the wall in front of him when Yeonjun slid half of his torso under the door and held his own face in his hands looking up at Beomgyu.

“Come on Gyu, you know you love me.” Beomgyu smacked the top of the boy's silver head when he tried to wink up at Beomgyu, failing as he just blinked with both eyes. The boy winced and laughed.

“You wound me Choi Beomgyu.” Yeonjun was one of the very few students who knew Korean. The boy knew it made Beomgyu more comfortable to talk in Korean, as that was where he was from. Beomgyu could speak English fluently, but it just felt too different. The only times he got to talk in Korean was with his family and with Yeonjun so he used it as much as he could around them. 

“Oi Daniel, the fuck you doing on the floor?” Beomgyu winced as he heard a deep voice echo through the marble bathroom. Yeonjun rolled his eyes and put his fingers in his mouth to signify distaste for the person speaking. Beomgyu smiled and held back laughter as he saw Yeonjun put on his most charming smile. He slid out from under and gave the man in question a bro five. That’s the stupid nick name Beomgyu gave the handshakes mostly the jocks would do. Yeonjun was on everyone’s good side though, so he was “friends'' with them. 

“Talking to my friend, Jake.” He said as he gave the rest of the boys with him a high-five. Jake peered past Yeonjun and saw the familiar tattered shoes and black backpack. He laughed and put his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket with his varsity patch. 

“You’re friends with this faggot Daniel? There’s no need dude, you’re always welcome with us.” Beomgyu scoffed slightly and rolled his eyes. 

“Woah there Abercrombie, rumor has it Sabrina’s telling people your schlong isn’t so long, so might wanna focus on that first.” Yeonjun put his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket mocking Jake’s posture. The rest of the boys seemed to find it funny so they laughed and punched Yeonjun’s shoulder playfully as Jake scoffed and looked at the ground, a slight smile on his face. 

“Guess I’ll have a talk with Sabrina then.” The silver haired boy smiled smugly and waved them out. He let out a large sigh when they were all out of the bathroom and the door was shut.

“God fuckn’ assholes. Coast is clear.” Beomgyu chuckled and opened the door of the bathroom stall, throwing a thankful expression at Yeonjun. Ever the observant friend, the older looked at his shirt and laughed.

“The hell did you get that shirt?” The blonde rolled his eyes and looked down.

“Honest to God I don’t know, even my mom asked.” Yeonjun’s eyes turned to worry for a second.

“Did you get that last weekend?” Beomgyu let out a breath and looked away before nodding.

“I think so.” He heard the older sigh and entered the open stall before he slid down to be eye level with the younger.

“I’m such a bad influence on you I apologize. I shouldn’t have brought you to that get together.” Beomgyu laughed and looked up into Yeonjun’s eyes.

“You call that a get together, that was like 20 fucking people. I didn't even know half the people there. Besides, you've brought me to bigger ’get togethers’ right?” The boy put finger quotes and smiled while looking back toward the ground.

“But that was the first time you tried alcohol Gyu, and I lost track of you.” 

“I was sleeping in the spare room hyung.” 

“Was it in that shirt?” 

Beomgyu was quiet before he answered, “I’m not sure.” Yeonjun groaned and put his head in his hands. 

“Ah Junnie, you can calm the fuck down. Probably just took it from the drawer of that house while I was drunk as hell and stumbling in the room.” He gave Yeonjun a smile and saw him falter for a second before laughing and patting his knee, standing up in the process.

“Alright, you’re coming to the Halloween party with me though right?” The junior stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt before looking up at Yeonjun and putting a hand on his shoulder. His answer was delayed as the bell rang. 

“Only you would be planning to attend a party a month early.” He said as he slung his back back over his shoulder and began to make his way toward the bathroom door. 

“Yah you little shit let’s walk to class together.” Yeonjun ran up to Beomgyu and put him in a headlock, messing up his hair as they exited the bathroom. The younger laughed and ripped Yeonjun’s hands off him, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to keep it tamed. He stood on his tiptoes to ruffle Yeonjun’s hair for revenge. Unfortunately the boy continued to ruffle it too as they walked to class. 

Beomgyu almost fell over as a shoulder violently bumped his own, sending him back a bit. Yeonjun held onto the younger to keep him from falling to the ground. The boy in question whipped around to see a tall figure facing away from him. 

“Watch where you’re going tall ass!” Beomgyu yelled back at the one who he assumed hit his shoulder. Sighing, he turned back around to continue walking with Yeonjun. The boy looked at Beomgyu surprised before laughing. 

“Tall ass? You gonna start calling me that too?” The senior teased as he put his hands back in his pockets, his signature smug grin painted across his face. 

“Shut the fuck up Daniel. I’m only 5’4 you ass.” He saw Yeonjun hold back laughter, his poker face wasn’t useful in the slightest. 

“Ooh I’m so scared of the towering 5 feet and 4 inches you possess.” He pretended to faint as they entered the classroom they both had together. Homeroom was always something they never really paid attention to together. 

The layout of the classroom was in 4 rows. Each row had 4 tables, two people could sit at each. Naturally on the first day, Yeonjun and Beomgyu ran to the back of the classroom, laughing and pushing each other all the while. As they entered the classroom Yeonjun greeted the teacher loudly.

“Yo Mrs. Price you look lovely today and I’m ready to learn.” The teacher looked up and smiled before shaking her head and looking back down at her clipboard. Yeonjun smiled and nudged Beomgyu's elbow.

“She’s into me.” The boy whispered and wiggled his eyebrows. Beomgyu pushed Yeonjun and stuck his tongue out.

“That’s so gross Yeonjun don’t even joke about that.” The boy just stuck his tongue out like Beomgyu had and successfully winked at him. They both quieted down when Mrs. Price's voice had begun booming throughout the room, starting her lesson 

Beomgyu had met Mrs. Price in his freshman year. He was looking for classrooms to find refuge in, as a freshman loner, sitting alone in the courtyard didn’t seem appetizing to him. He stumbled into her class and remembers how he was awkwardly fumbling with the hem of his shirt. Being the nice person she was though, she smiled and let him take a seat in front of her desk, never judging his looks or choice of shoes. On more than one occasion she even brought him lunch, while also giving him tutoring in math. Since she was a Junior and Senior math teacher she was very knowledgeable in the math department. Beomgyu had been ecstatic when he learned she would be his homeroom teacher for his Junior year. His first day he walked in with Yeonjun, they both smiled widely and she smiled back at them. While they were troublemakers, Beomgyu had a feeling she could never truly be mad at them. 

Beomgyu had been drawing on a spare sheet of paper when Yeonjun’s worn Doc Martens were placed on the table as the boy had his own headphones on, a Walkman in his hand as he played the air guitar. 

His friend was in a rock band called Too Young To Die, and Beomgyu loved listening to their practices. He himself had learned how to play guitar, stemming from his love of Metallica. He was by no means in the band, but he would be invited to play at parties and such, and who was he to deny. He would never stay too long at those things, usually opting to leave straight after he packed up his guitar in its case. That’s how he ended up meeting Yeonjun. A classmate had seen him practicing at a music shop, really Beomgyu was just trying them out. It was a hobby of Beomgyu’s to visit the local music shop, purchase guitar picks, vinyls, anything of the sort. That’s also how he ended up getting a job there. But the girl had suggested that he play at this party she was having, and yearning for social interaction as a young freshman he agreed. 

When he arrived at the address on his skateboard he almost regretted it as he heard laughter and screaming from the house, no music playing yet. Gathering all the courage he had, Beomgyu entered the small house. Going through the almost crowds of people he made it to what looked like the corner where the music would happen. It had wires and mic stands, and sitting on one of the big speakers was a tall man, must’ve been close to Beomgyu’s age. 

He was wearing what looked like new Doc Martens and black slacks, his striped polo was tucked in and all the buttons were down. Silver hair styled to show off his forehead. His fashion was ambiguous and Beomgyu found himself to be a little intimidated by the confidence he radiated. The boy looked down at his own attire and winced. Tattered converse, denim shorts and a big shirt with a striped long sleeve under it. Sighing he timidly walked up to the boy who was playing his guitar, getting ready for the future performance. 

“Um, hi, I’m Beomgyu, I’m supposed to be playing here.” His introduction was awkward, and added on with his extended hand, not one of Beomgyu’s proudest moments. The boy looked up at Beomgyu eyes, before looking down at the boys hand, and back up at Beomgyu’s eyes. Surprisingly his serious expression changed to one of fondness. 

“Daniel. Daniel Choi. I’ve seen you around school. You never seemed like the type to go to these types of things. Nevertheless welcome to the stage.” Yeonjun stood up from his seat on the speaker and held his arms out wide, gesturing to the empty corner. Beomgyu smiled and put his hand down to his side, realizing he still had his hand up. 

“Well what do you say Gyu, should we rock this joint?” 

Beomgyu will always have fond memories of that night, they both sang together and played together, they immediately hit it off as great friends and started to hang out more. Yeonjun would often hang out with Beomgyu at his job at the music store. Two year later, they were still great friends. Yeonjun had always been a floater though, never had one distinct group, got along with everyone for the most part but it didn’t bother Beomgyu in the slightest. They hung out with each other whenever they could, but Yeonjun also liked to hang out with other people and Beomgyu respected that.

Hell sometimes he wished he could be more like that.

Speaking of everyone.

“Hey Yeonjun, who the hell was that tall guy hanging out with the theater kids today?” Beomgyu found himself asking. Yeonjun took off his headphones, putting them around his neck as he turned to face Beomgyu.

“What?” Beomgyu flicked Yeonjun’s forehead, the older flinching in surprise.

“I said who was that new guy hanging out with the theater kids. I could only assume you guys met.” Instead of an immediate answer he was met with a chortle. 

“Damn right I met him, you know Stacy. She comes up to me with this tall bunny looking boy and says ‘He doesn’t speak English too well, it’s pretty good but communication is still a little interrupted, so I assumed you could talk and show him around since you know Chinese as well.’” Beomgyu let out a chuckle as Yeonjun told the story. 

“So I rolled my eyes and said ‘Ni Hao’ to her and she smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Anyway, I look back at this lost puppy looking mother fucker. I say ‘You know English right?’ he responds in, might I add, the cutest Korean accent, ‘Yes’. I ain’t an idiot so I asked in Korean if he knew Korean and one thing led to another, we walked around a bit and ended up sitting down at the theater kids table. I thought he would be a good fit for them and I mean he seemed to hit it off particularly with Nancy.” The younger remembered that he was talking to a girl at the table. 

“Damn, we never get new kids, let alone kids who speak Korean am I right?” Yeonjun whistled and nodded. 

“Maybe I’ll see him around.” Beomgyu leaned his head over the back of his chair, all his hair almost upside down.

“I mean kinda hard to miss him, he’s like 6’1. But you know what’s weird?” The senior said as he rustled through his backpack looking for a granola bar. Beomgyu tilted his head and sat up, looking curiously at Yeonjun as he opened the plastic package.

“What?” Yeonjun took a bite from his bar, chewing for a few seconds before responding.

“I could’ve sworn I’d seen him somewhere. Maybe around town cause he just moved here but I swear I’ve seen him.” Expecting something more exciting, Beomgyu groaned and rolled his eyes, Yeonjun sitting up.

“What did you expect me to say I saw him in a strip club or something? Nah, he just seemed familiar.” With that the boy continued to enjoy his granola bar. As Beomgyu was thinking the bell rang, signaling for students to go to first period classes. Yeonjun groaned.

“Fuck you bell, I need to finish my granola bar.” His fellow classmates laughed as Mrs. Price told him to watch his language. Yeonjun smiled and winked at her before standing up, pulling his satchel backpack over his head to rest on his left shoulder. 

“Come on Gyu I’ll walk you to Mackintosh's, my class is just after that.” Grinning up at the senior, Beomgyu grabbed the strap of his backpack and stood up, joining Yeonjun as he sauntered out of the spacious classroom. The boy had his headphones back over his head dramatically dancing and throwing a wink at Mrs. Price before he danced out of the classroom, other students hollering and hyping him up as Beomgyu jogged after the fast moving figure. 

Science proved to be very much needed for Beomgyu. This was his period to not pay attention to the teacher. More often than not he would take the long way around the whole building, stalk up the stairs slowly, relishing in the music playing as the bell rang. He still wasn’t in class, but it’s not like he gave two shits about what his Chemistry teacher thought. She would never mark kids late and to how unenjoyable her class was, Beomgyu felt to contain his sanity it was essential he take his time to get to her classroom. The boy bobbed his head to the music playing through his walkman and jogged up the stairs carefully. 

There had been too many instances where he had almost fallen up or down those very stairs. And too many times where he had succeeded. He remembers on the last day of his sophomore year he was beginning to jog down the stairs when a shoulder bumped into him. Beomgyu was certain if his body didn't involuntarily grab for the side railing, he would have died on the stairs below. While his heart was beating faster realizing he had cheated death, the senior who had bumped him offered the half assed apology as he jumped down the stairs two at a time. Needless to say he was always careful to hold onto the side railing that day onward. 

Today though, everyone was already in class and he was by himself walking up, it didn’t bother him in the slightest. As he began to dance he didn’t become aware of the 6’4 teacher standing in front of him, bumping into the tall figure with a small grunt. Looking up, he gulped slightly.

“H-hi Mr. Green.” Beomgyu managed to force out, his voice cracking slightly while he spoke. 

The red headed teacher had his arms crossed as he looked down at the small teenager, who took out his headphones slowly as if the teacher wouldn't see. Snatching the device up, the teacher sighed and looked back down at Beomgyu, still no words came to him. 

Mr. Green had a reputation of being one of the strictest teachers on campus. His cold demeanor and loud voice made freshmen fear him and made upperclassmen keep out of trouble whenever he was around. Growing up in an age where only record players and radios were used, he despised any technology that would get in the way of education. Beomgyu thought he never had to fear running into him, as Mr. Green was a part of the computer class, that building was on the other side of the school.

“What are you doing all the way over here?” Beomgyu laughed nervously and tried to stand tall, failing in the process. The teacher chuckled and kept his arms folded. The boy nodded.

“Detention I’m guessing?” Looking up, he saw Mr. Green nod silently. 

He had a few run ins with the man, successfully getting on his not so good side. It had been late after school and Yeonjun had forgotten his walkman in his computer class, and came up with the brilliant idea to break into school and get it. Beomgyu always had a feeling Mr. Green knew it was them as he chased both boys screaming how they would be arrested for trespassing. They both had jumped on their bikes and gotten the hell out of there, laughing and hollering all the way back to Yeonjun’s house which was closer to the school. Along with occasional truancy and not paying attention in class, he was on Mr. Greens hit list. 

“Get to class now, detention will take place after school in the theater room. You’ll help them paint their sets.” The teacher frowned and announced to Beomgyu as he walked away. The boy scoffed.

“Really? Can’t I just write about how I’ll do better next time or do my homework?” He groaned when he realized Mr. Green had his walkman. The man looked over his shoulder with eyes that seemed to finalize Beomgyu’s fate. Sighing loud, the blonde put his hands in the pockets of his jeans and sped walked to class. 

Taking the walk of shame to the theater room after school was definitely not one of Beomgyu’s proudest moments. He jumped on the brick wall that lined the huge oak tree in the courtyard, swinging his backpack back and forth, testing his balance. He kept going in circles, trying to prolong his future labor, but knew Mr. Green would keep making Beomgyu go to detention if he didn’t go this whole week. In the corner of Beomgyu’s eyes, he saw the tuft of silver hair. Smiling he turned around and jumped off the wall with a small grunt before slinging his backpack over one shoulder and greeting the familiar figure.

“Ah, what did you get detention for Junnie?’ Yeonjun rolled his eyes at the younger and gave his trademark smirk. 

“Mrs. Smith wasn’t as into my charm as Mrs. Price was, lets just put it that way.” Shaking his head and turning around, Beomgyu began to tread toward the theater room, Yeonjun in tow behind him. 

“Know anyone in theater to make this experience less grueling?” Yeonjun asked as he took a coin from his pocket and began to fiddle with it. Beomgyu simply laughed.

“Was kinda counting on you for that not gonna lie.” The taller smiled and focused on perfecting his little coin trick. 

“You’ll be fine Gyu, they’re not even that weird, just misunderstood.” Beomgyu nodded and looked down at his converse as they walked. 

The theater kids did have a reputation for being weird in school. It was like they had their own little world on the tethered red lunch bench. They always seemed to laugh and have fun despite most of the people in the group being bullied in the halls. Beomgyu couldn’t help but envy that. He envied the feeling of not caring what people thought about him. He liked to think he didn’t usually let what people thought about him affect him personally, and sometimes it didn’t, it was the bullying that got under his skin the most. It was the moments in the bathroom when people would kick at his stall and coo at him to come out and ask him if he had any friends or if he was crying like a little bitch. Beomgyu scoffed, he would never cry in a bathroom stall. He would never let himself, then he’d be confirming what those assholes said, and that was the last thing he wanted. 

The bathroom was somewhat relaxing most days. No one really went in there unless it was to go to the bathroom, so people would usually leave him alone. He would listen to music on his walkman and try to solve his Rubik's cube as he waited to hear the bell of salvation announcing the end of lunch. The boy never usually brought lunch, Yeonjun had told him multiple times that he should be eating more because he was already skinny enough, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Instead, he would take one apple or some kind of fruit. On special occasions he would bring a tupperware with some food his mom had prepared for him, he could never say no to his mom’s cooking, especially when it was for him. 

“Ah, the duo presents themselves finally. I was told you two were coming but wasn’t sure if you were going to show.” A short lady the junior didn't recognize was at the front of the theater room as they approached. She was older and physically short, but only maybe one inch shorter than Beomgyu. The older had nudged him as they approached.

“She gives off taller vibes than you.” Yeonjun was met with a slap and silenced his whispers as the woman raised her thin eyebrow at them. 

She dropped her gaze down to her clipboard, adjusting her square glasses that were on the edge of her sloped nose, “Daniel Choi?” The lady asked them both. 

Yeonjun raised his arm and smiled, “Present.” She shook her head slightly as she kept looking at her clipboard, Beomgyu already knew what was coming. 

“Be-beo- ugh, is that you?” The boy put on his best closed mouth smile and nodded. She nodded and wrote on her clipboard quickly.

“Have you considered picking an English name?” It was a question Beomgyu got often in the town. He supposed it was a valid question, but it somewhat still annoyed him how blunt she had been.

“Can’t say I have ma’am, I like my name.” He responded to her question regardless of how much it ruffled his feathers. 

“Wow, you speak really good English, I would’ve assumed you had an English name to match.” The lady smiled warmly at Beomgyu after she said so, turning on her Mary-Jane heels and opening the door. 

Yeonjun shared a side glance with Beomgyu, who just smiled best he could at the lady and thanked her. This kind of thing had been happening to Beomgyu for years, he learned to just forgive and forget, and even though comments like that were meant to be nice, the blonde just got rubbed the wrong way by those words. 

Walking on, Beomgyu entered the room first. The inside proved to be much bigger than it had appeared on the outside. With tall ceilings and rows of chairs in front of a wide stage that had unpainted props on it. The sight reminded the two boys of why they were there. As they walked up the ramp to go onstage, they heard a group laughing and something falling over, followed by the old lady who had greeted them screeching.

“Do not break those props!” Her screeching was met by slightly synchronized ‘sorrys’ followed by hushed giggles. Yeonjun opened the door and everyone quieted as they noticed the two new figures enter the stage. A few of the kids smiled when they saw Yeonjun and waved him over. The boy smiled before looking back at Beomgyu and waving at him to join. Hesitantly, the boy followed, walking slowly as he saw Yeonjun jog up the small circle and plopping down on the floor next to a short plump girl, throwing a wink her way. The girl looked flustered as she looked back down to what she was painting. The kids moved so Beomgyu could sit next to Yeonjun. Sitting criss-cross, the boy assessed the people in the circle. Looking up he noticed the tall kid from that morning, his arm wrapped around the shoulders of Nancy, the transfer student from Spain. She was leaning her head on his shoulder as he whispered in her ear. She giggled and grabbed his cheek with her left hand, turning his face gently so she could kiss him. Beomgyu looked back down, not wanting to seem like he was a creep just watching. Running a hand through his hair he shook Yeonjun’s arm gently. 

The boy was in the middle of flirting with the girl next to him, when he looked over at Beomgyu, concern on his face.

“What’s wrong Gyu?” He asked as the girl he was talking to glanced over as well.

“Aren’t we supposed to be painting sets?” Yeonjun blinked at him, before looking beyond Beomgyu and looking to his left and right. A smile broke out on his face and he turned to face the girl, putting his right hand over hers as he leaned on it, sending her another failed wink that had her giggling. 

“I don’t see any teacher.” Beomgyu rolled his eyes as the boy didn't look back at him, too engrossed in flirting with the girl to his right. 

“Kai and Terry can help you, if you want to paint sets, that is?” A voice broke through Beomgyu’s thoughts. He looked up and identified the deep voice as the tall brunettes. He was pointing further backstage as Beomgyu looked into his eyes for the second time. Nodding, he offered a quick ‘thank you’ before breaking eye contact to stand up and follow the boys directions. Beomgyu didn’t know why but he could feel the eyes still burning into him even as he broke the second long staring contest. 

Those eyes felt so damn familiar. It was like deja vu for Beomgyu. The boy had such deep chocolate brown doe eyes, he knew if he saw them before he would’ve remembered them. It was eating at him even as he walked away, moving the curtain to go to the destination the boy had pointed to. Sighing in defeat, he continued to search for two boys. 

As he moved another set of curtains he heard a high pitched yelp followed by a loud slap.

“You trying to get us in trouble with Mrs. Devil’s-Wife?!” A voice whisper yelled at an apparent second person. Beomgyu grew curious as he understood the Korean they spoke. 

“S-Sorry Taehyunnie.” The other boy sounded apologetic and stumbled over his words. Taehyunnie? Beomgyu pondered on the obvious nickname before rounding the corner to be greeted to the sight of two boys.

They were both surrounding the power box, paint cans and brushes at their feet as they focused on the open fuse box. One was very tall with round glasses similar to the ones Beomgyu had, his dark curly hair fell over his eyes which had the boy wondering how he could possibly see what he was doing, and he had a striped polo shirt on with red running shorts that had two white stripes running down the fabric. He had tall socks up to his calf and white Nike Cortez’s that looked rather worn. 

The shorter of the duo wore dark blue skinny jeans and a plain salmon colored button down that was open to reveal a plain white t-shirt. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his arms were crossed, glaring at the taller figure in front of him.

The taller one was the first to notice Beomgyu.

“U-um.” He stuttered out. He seemed to have a nervous demeanor, even though he had to be standing at 6 foot. The shorter leaned over to look at Beomgyu.

“Who are you? Why are you back here?” Now he sounded more threatening, and Beomgyu blinked twice before throwing in a nervous laugh.

“Oh, I'm looking for a Kai and a Terry, I’m supposed to be painting sets for detention.” The blonde didn’t miss how the shorter of the two narrowed his eyes slightly before unfolding his arms to rest his hands on his hips and clearing his throat.

“In that case, I’m Terry, this is Kai. The paints are right here if you need them.” Terry pointed at the buckets and brushes on the ground, turning back at who he had introduced as Kai. Kai himself kept looking skeptically at Beomgyu, but Terry snapped him back to what they were doing. Beomgyu looked curiously at what they were doing.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what are you doing exactly?” He asked carefully. Kai glanced back at him without moving his head, before looking back at what he was doing.

“We’re trying to cut all the lights in this building.” The boy, Terry, had a mischievous smile on his face as Kai broke out in the dorkiest smile Beomgyu had seen. 

“Why?” The blonde was laughing and sitting on one of the wooden boxes closer to the two. Kai was the one to answer first.

“Why not?” Beomgyu nodded and moved to stand next to Kai on the boy’s left. He looked at the fuse and he smiled.

“Pull those ones.” He pointed at a switch out of the many, many, on the board. Taking a second, Kai flipped the two switches Beomgyu had pointed to. For a few seconds, the two looked up at the ceiling of the backstage area in disappointment, before the lights gave out with a loud switch. Kai let out what Beomgyu can only describe as a dolphin scream and laugh as they heard the rest of the theater students scream. Beomgyu felt a tug on his right arm and found Terry was pulling both him and Kai.

“We gotta go, they'll figure out it was us if we stay here.” He tugged them once more before their feet began to run. They both followed Terry, laughing and running as he blindly pushed the exit door, bursting into the grass patch behind the building. He fell forward along with Kai and Beomgyu. They all stayed laying on the ground when Terry spoke in Korean.

“We did it Kai!” Feeling excited Beomgyu responded in Korean as well.

“You mean the switches yours truly told you to flip?” He closed his eyes and fell back on the grass, his arms extended as he smiled widely. Kai sat up and leaned toward Beomgyu.

“He speaks Korean Taehyunnie!” The boy smiled widely, Beomgyu wasn’t lying when he thought the smile of this boy he just met was infectious. 

“Well no shit Kai.” The shorter brunette snorted and sat up, leaned backward on his hands, he looked over Beomgyu.

“Well, you can call me Taehyun, Terry is my English name, any of the two is fine.” He threw a thumbs up at Beomgyu and closed his eyes, enjoying the autumn breeze blowing. 

“Taehyun. Taehyun… nice ring to it.” Kai laughed and fell back on the soft grass like Beomgyu did.

“Kai! Terry! Beomgyu! Are you responsible for this?!” All their laughing and smiling seized as the voice of Mr. Green boomed even outside. They all reluctantly looked back at the door to find the rest of the theater group standing behind the door, some laughing and some covering their mouths at the amount of trouble they knew the boys were going to get into. 

“Well shit.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I’m back with another chapter. Sorry if this one kinda sucks, I’ll try harder in the future to make my chapters better. If there’s typos I over looked I’m also very sorry. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the next chapter. Updates will still be undetermined. 
> 
> -Grass

“You guys must be out of your minds!” 

All three boys sat in the cold office of the principal, Mr. Johnson. Beomgyu was very much unamused, he’d been there his fair share of times. To pass time he looked at the leather arm of the chair he sat on and drew random shapes on the surface. He looked around the room at the black and white pictures of past classes and certificates. 

Beomgyu laughed to himself. Show off. 

“What’s so funny Mr. Choi?” The firm voice of the adult in the room asked cooly. Beomgyu sighed and sat up in his chair, looking into the man’s eyes.

“Nothing sir.” Grunting he began to talk again. 

“You nearly gave Mrs. Barely a heart attack! Is this what kids these days are doing for fun?!” The three stayed silent, as sniffles came from Kai. He seemed the most bothered, he sat up with his fists balled on his knees, shoulder hunched as he looked to the floor. Beomgyu couldn’t help but feel bad for the boy. He seemed like the type to stay out of trouble, a teacher's pet, probably a nerd. Even Beomgyu wondered why he would be trying to cut the power. 

Taehyun looked rather unamused by the whole debacle similar to Beomgyu. He sat comfortably with his right ankle resting on his knee, and kept his arms crossed as he listened to Mr. Johnson drone on and on. Though Taehyun couldn’t help but feel bad for Kai, the other boy nervously pushed his glasses up his nose. Sighing, he put a hand on Kai’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze before putting his hand back down. This seemed to make him relax a little bit, though his leg never stopped bouncing. 

“What do you suggest I do with you guys? Suspension?” Taehyun’s and Beomgyu groaned as Kai’s eyes widened.

“No! I’m very sorry sir, it was very stupid of us, of me.” Kai instinctively shrunk in on himself, falling against the back of the chair and sliding down slightly. The principal seemed to stare at Kai, pondering his options before sighing. He leaned back in his swivel chair and rubbed his eyes, pushing his glasses up in the process. 

“You’re lucky I’m not suspending you three.” Beomgyu looked at the other boys with excitement at the news. But celebration would be cut short by Mr. Johnson’s voice once more.

“But, you will be serving detention for two weeks, Beomgyu three, since our reliable Mr. Green told me you were sent there in the first place to serve a week of detention.” That seemed to be his final word, Beomgyu scowling silently at the mention of Mr. Green and the detention he had given him. Kai seemed relieved and wiped his cheeks, making sure there were no tears. Taehyun put another hand on Kai’s shoulder as he did this. He smiled softly, the younger was always so sensitive. It was something Taehyun never judged Kai for. He was kind hearted and cried when a bug died, he never liked getting in trouble. Taehyun had a feeling his parents thought he was a bad influence on their son. 

At the thought of not having suspension, Kai sat up and smiled, nodding profusely, while Beomgyu simply nodded while continuing to fiddle with his hands, Taehyun only offering a hum in response. Sitting in awkward silence for the next two seconds, the principal cleared his throat and stood up, walking toward the door and opening it, motioning for the boys to leave. Kai stood up immediately, involuntarily bowing his head slightly at him. Beomgyu nodded at him before exiting, Taehyun offered no response and walked out with his hands in the pocket of his jeans. 

“You boys have a nice rest of your day, and for the love of god don’t go cut the power again.” The man grumbled out and slammed his office door slightly, making Kai flinch. Standing in silence, Taehyun whistled and made his way toward the main office exit, Kai quickly on his trail. Beomgyu looked around the office before jogging after them. 

“We should do something.” Taehyun said as he stretched his arms over his head, groaned as he extended his hands to the sky, enjoying the small sliver of sunlight shining on him through the chilly autumn evening. Beomgyu couldn't help but laugh.

“Really? Already so eager to do something else?’ The brunette let a scoff and then a chuckle before facing Beomgyu.

“Of course, no way I’m going home yet. Let’s walk to 7/11, I’m buying. Even for you stranger I meet while cutting the power.” Kai and Taehyun began to tred along the path leading away from the school. Beomgyu once again jogged up to them after staying in his spot, looking at his bike before deciding to follow them.

“My name is Beomgyu, thanks for asking.” Taehyun laughed and Kai smiled.

“I knew your name was Beomgyu stupid.” He announced cheerfully. Beomgyu raised his eyebrow.

“How?” The younger laughed.

“Don’t humor yourself Beomgyu, I heard it when we were in the principal's office, remember Taehyun?” He smiled and turned his head over to the shorter figure. He seemed to ponder the idea before shrugging his shoulders. Kai sighed and shook his head, puffing out his cheeks slightly. Beomgyu couldn’t help but think he was adorable. 

“Wait, what grade are you in Kai?’ Beomgyu asked as he kicked a rock on the sidewalk into the road. 

“I’m in 10th grade! I’m sixteen as of August 14th!” The boy announced to Beomgyu excitedly. The shorter laughed at his enthusiasm before reaching up to flick Kai’s forehead.

“Well now that I know your young as shit, you should call me hyung.” The statement garnered a snort out of Taehyun. 

“Good luck in trying to get any ounce of respect from this brat, I gave up long ago.” He only chuckled more when Kai squealed insisting he wasn’t a brat. The two continued to squabble as they walked down the empty sidewalk. The occasional car passed by, and Beomgyu laughed as the two bickered. He let his laughter die down though as they began to cross a bridge. This bridge was lifted over a roaring river, and Beomgyu looked over at the view. The sun looked like it was about to go down, the trees almost seemed to match the color of the sunset. He was a sucker for beautiful views like this one. He was able to pay back attention to the conversation at hand when they reached the main road again, the 7/11 sign glowing in the distance. 

Kai sighed in relief and fanned himself. Taehyun rolled his eyes and pushed Kai’s shoulder gently. Beomgyu chuckled and looked at the two of them. He wondered how they became such good friends. He also wondered why he hadn't seen them sitting with the rest of the theater kids. They obviously hung out with them, they were in the backstage area with paint cans after all. Why would they be trying to cut the power instead of hanging out with fellow theater kids?

“Did you guys see that new movie coming out next month?” Kai’s voice once again brought him back to reality. Beomgyu shook his head, and looked up, they were entering the 7/11 parking lot area. He jumped on and over a rock as he answered. 

“Which one?” He grunted as he jumped back down, he did not expect that rock to be so high. 

“The one about the killer robots...um… The Terminator! That’s what it’s called! Seems worth watching don’t you think?” Beomgyu and Taehyun chuckled to each other, Kai pouted slightly and crossed his arms.

“Fine, then I’ll go to the movies by myself on opening night.” He walked through the door of the 7/11 Taehyun had held open for him and Beomgyu, simply passing by him without a thank you, the blonde offered a small nod and smile. Immediately, Beomgyu saw Kai run through the isles, picking up snacks and running to the back to make a slushie. Taehyun followed Kai and began to pick the flavors for his slushie. Beomgyu too walked behind Taehyun, picking the smallest cup for his slushie. As he was filling the cup, he heard Taehyun chuckled behind him.

“Someone else is paying for your snacks and you're gonna go a size that small?” His smile didn’t seem to leave as he put his lips on the straw and continued to drink his slushie. Beomgyu rolled his eyes and focused back on his drink.

“I feel bad that you have to pay for it, along with the surplus Kai seems to be getting.” When he put the lid on, he grabbed a straw and hit it against the counter before the straw burst through the plastic. He heard Taehyun groan and his footsteps approach him. 

“For god sake have you never gotten a slushie? You’re doing it wrong. Hold this.” In a second Taehyun took his cup and shoved his slushie in his hand for Beomgyu to hold. The boy walked back up to the machine and filled it up to the top of the lid. Satisfied, he snatched the opened straw from Beomgyu and put it in before taking a sip, pondering his mix before nodding and taking a longer sip.

“H-hey! Don’t use my straw! You know that AIDS shit is going around dude.” He could practically hear Taehyun’s eye roll as the male walked away from the machine, taking his drink back and making his way toward the cash register. Halfway there they met Kai, who had his arms full of snacks. A devilish smile made its way to his face as he dropped the items on the front desk, basking in his choice of snacks. Taehyun seemed unamused as he pulled out his wallet and paid for the items, though his whole demeanor seemed unamused and sassy at all times. 

“Thank you Taehyunnie!” Kai exclaimed as he grabbed onto Taehyun’s arm, the boy offering a small grin as he handed the money over to the cashier. Taehyun grabbed the bagged goods and handed them to Kai who held onto the bag with his right hand as he continued to cling to Taehyun's arm. Beomgyu smiled and began to walk to the door with the other two when they heard the cashier say something under his breath. 

“Fucking faggots.” Beomgyu’s eyes went wide as he shot his head to the other two. They had to have heard, right? He watched as Kai slowly let go of Taehyun’s arm and looked down as they continued walking. Taehyun’s eyes were furrowed but he opened the door, the bell on it ringing through the silence between the group. As soon as they were out of the store, Taehyun sighed in what sounded like annoyance.

“Assholes, I swear to God.” He mumbled and sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, a few feet away from the entrance of the 7/11. Kai and Beomgyu followed suit, the taller boy choosing to sit on Taehyun’s right and Beomgyu on Kai’s right. Taehyun seemed to sense the energy between the three and put on a soft smile, turning to face Kai.

“So what snacks did you pick Ning-Ning?” Instantly, the younger seemed to cheer up a little, digging through the white plastic bag to show the two. Beomgyu was stunned at how quick the boy let what happened go. He guessed that’s all they could do. It made Beomgyu sad that two friends couldn’t show their friendship physically. 

Wait.

“Sheesh, Beomgyu I can see the wheels in your brain turning, me and Kai are not together like that. We’re not even gay.” He leaned back on one hand and looked over Beomgyu as he took a sip of his slushie. Kai offered a small nod and looked back at the snacks. He seemed to be thinking about something, but all thoughts seemed to be tossed to the side as a smile appeared. 

“Here’s your snack Taehyun!” He tossed a chip bag onto the boy’s lap as he dug his hand through the bag again. 

“And Beomgyu, I didn’t know what you liked, so candy is the next best thing.” A bag of Sour Patch Kids was thrown at Beomgyu in a split second. Kai laughed before reaching inside the bag to pick out his own snacks. Beomgyu chuckled slightly and grabbed the bag of candy on his lap.

“So, why weren’t you guys with the rest of the theater group? When I was there you two were trying to cut the power after all.” He brought the package up to his mouth and ripped part of it, using his hands to open it further. Taehyun let out a laugh.

“We got sick of everyone going ‘Soobin’ this and ‘Soobin’ that, so we branched off today. We'll be hanging out with them tomorrow though.” He explained, opening his own bag of snacks. 

“Damn, he already got a girlfriend too, maybe he could give me some tips.” Beomgyu joked and started eating the candy, wincing slightly at the sour. Taehyun chuckled and nodded, Kai didn't offer a response as he began to eat the box of Nerds in his hand. 

“I mean is it really a surprise? He’s really attractive.” Beomgyu looked over as Kai spoke. He was looking up at the sky in the distance and continued to pour Nerds in his hand. 

“I mean I guess, he’s alright.” Taehyun took out a box of cigarettes as he spoke. Kai groaned and rolled his eyes. 

“Taehyun I thought you said you stopped?” He looked at Taehyun with doe eyes and the boy couldn’t help but feel bad, before he continued to light the cigarette in his hand. He took a large inhale and blew the smoke out.

“Things haven't been so good at home, you know what I mean Kai.” Was all he said before things fell silent, and Taehyun continued to smoke his cigarette. Beomgyu was certainly curious about what Taehyun was talking about, but he knew better than to over stretch his boundaries, he just met these people after all. He felt a little left out though. 

“Want one Beomgyu? I forgot to ask, that was rude of me.” Taehyun held the box of cigarettes in front of Kai, who looked the other way. Beomgyu looked at the box, pondering his options before reluctantly taking one. The boy put it in his mouth and let Taehyun light it for him. He took a small inhale before breathing out.

“Thanks.” And so the three stayed there for some time, looking off into the distance, eating their snacks and smoking their cigarettes till they were ash under the soles of their shoes. They sat in comfortable silence like that until Beomgyu parted from the two of them, leaving Kai and Taehyun by themselves on the sidewalk. 

Taehyun sighed and sat criss cross, turning to face Kai.

“Something important is on your mind. I feel it. What’s wrong?” The boy questioned, a concerned expression on his face. Kai gulped and continued to eat his snacks. He cleared his throat before speaking up. 

“Nothing’s wrong Taehyunnie.” 

“Bullshit.” Kai stood up at that, his foot bouncing and his thoughts swirling.

“I’m gonna get going, I’ll see you tomorrow Taehyun.” He crouched to pick up the plastic bag, and began to walk away from the figure still seated.

“Kai!” The boy didn’t turn around as Taehyun’s voice seemed to fade the more he walked. 

The latter watched as Kai’s tall form disappeared into the distance. He cursed before throwing his second cigarette on the floor, stomping on it before walking in the direction of his house. 

~~

Detention had never been so fucking boring.

Beomgyu sat down and wiped the sweat off his brow, setting down the paintbrush he had been using for the past 2 hours. 

“Get off your ass Beomgyu, we’re all working here too.” The voice of Taehyun cut through the boy’s staring contest with the floor. 

This was how it had been for two fucking weeks. Everyday, after school till six o'clock, the three boys were painting sets. Beomgyu didn’t even know there were this many sets to paint. Yeonjun had been let off after his first week on account he wasn’t involved in cutting the power. That left beomgyu with Taehyun and Kai, they only had four days left though, Beomgyu still had a full week. 

“Oh fuck off Taehyun, come on we’ve been working for two hours straight.” The boy groaned and fell back, his whole upper body hanging upside down, his shirt riding up. 

“I swear to God if you don't get up I’ll pour paint over your stomach.” Beomgyu immediately shot up to see Taehyun walking toward him with a paint bucket in his arms. The boy pulled his shirt down and held his stomach. 

“Are you crazy?!” He barked as Taehyun got his brush with paint and brushed the exposed part of Beomgyu’s arm staining it with a dark purple. 

“As a matter of fact I am.” Beomgyu cursed as the boy put on a devilish close mouthed smile, walking back over to the set he was painting originally. The blonde looked down at his arm that had paint on it, cursing before standing up.

He walked up to Mrs. Barely, who Taehyun and Kai called Mrs. Devil’s-Wife, due to the fact she could be real pain in the ass. 

“Ms, can I go and wash off my arm?” He asked as politely as he could, he really just wanted the paint off before it dried. The old woman narrowed her eyes at him. 

“If I didn’t know better, you were trying to ditch your detention.” Beomgyu kept his eyes roll in and looked down before he thought of an idea. 

“Can’t someone come with me? I just really want to get this paint off before it dries.” He smiled as best he could at her and waited for her response. She crossed her arms before speaking again.

“Soobin!” She barked and Beomgyu winced at the hoarseness of her voice. A tall figure soon jogged into view with a smile on his face. 

“Take Beomgyu to the bathroom and make sure he doesn’t try to skip his detention time.” The boy nodded and looked at Beomgyu, who was holding his arm out as to not get paint on his shirt. He offered the boy what looked like a forced smile and walked in front of Beomgyu. 

They walked in silence to the bathroom at the science building, it was pretty far from the theater building, but there wasn’t any that would be close and open so the science building was their best bet. They approached the building and Beomgyu awkwardly tapped Soobin on the shoulder. The boy was spaced off, but standing right in front of the bathroom door. He snapped out of his trance when he felt Beomgyu’s tapping. 

“You’re standing in the doorway, sorry.” Beomgyu chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. Soobin immediately moved to the side, gesturing his arm to the bathroom.

“S-sorry about that, here you go.” The blonde nodded at the ground before going into the bathroom. Once more, he felt he still had eyes burning into his back. He walked into the familiar white and blue tiled bathroom and sighed, walking up to the sink and turning the hot water on. As he splashed the water on his arm, he took a second to look at his reflection. He hadn’t really changed in the past two weeks. His hair had started to fade a little though, so it wasn’t as brightly blonde as it used to be. In a way he was glad, he always thought his super blonde hair made him look like a noodle. 

Beomgyu kept wiping his arm until all of the paint was washed away, making a mental note to get back at Taehyun, fixing and running a hand through his hair before he made his way outside. Soobin was leaning against the outside, hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, looking at nothing in particular. At the sound of the door closing Soobin stood back up, looking at Beomgyu before turning to walk back in the direction of the theater room. The smaller boy looked at the back of Soobin’s head and couldn't keep his question in him.

“Haven’t we met before, other than two weeks ago?” Soobin seemed to freeze in his tracks at Beomgyu's question. He turned around and smiled before laughing awkwardly. 

“Why do you say that? I’m pretty sure not.” He didn’t move as Beomgyu stepped forward, looking up at him with his brows knitted together with curiosity. The blonde boy didn’t hold back from reaching up and grabbing Soobin’s face with one hand and turning it both way. 

“Hey what the hell are you doing?!” He stepped back and Beomgyu folded his arms looking at Soobin confused. 

“I swear I know you from somewhere.” He mumbled and tapped his foot. Soobin scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

“Well you don’t, so don’t talk or touch me again, what are you gay?” The taller boy spat out and Beomgyu opened his mouth but no words came out. He was astonished by the boy's sudden outburst at him. Even as Soobin stormed away, his mouth remained slightly ajared. His surprise and confusion soon turned to distaste. 

How dare he talk to him like that? He didn’t even know him! If he wanted to wage war, so be it! Beomgyu balled his fists at his side and soon too he was fast walking back to the theater building. If Soobin wanted to be enemies, fine.

Beomgyu was going to comply. 

```

The Halloween season had always been one of Beomgyu and Yeonjun’s favorite seasons. Everything about it enticed the two trouble makers and many teens throughout the town. Kids were getting costumes on as well as the teens, but many had mischievous plans. Whether it be smashing pumpkins of fellow neighbors and strangers, to throwing eggs at the houses of the meaner old people, Beomgyu and Yeonjun were all about it. 

Some teenagers on this grand holiday would take the chance to hide in bushes and scare unsuspecting children, while also getting yelled at by the crying kids parents as the troublesome teenagers ran away laughing. Even the football team would get in on it, driving around neighborhoods in clown costumes while throwing either objects of mischief, or candy bars. A real trick or treat moment. Yeonjun and Beomgyu however, would take this time to ride around on their bikes throughout the town. Their usual route was to go through Yeonjun’s neighborhood first and throw eggs at or T.P houses with halloween masks on, then they would ride down to the railroad tracks that hadn't been used since the late 30’s and just hang out. The two didn’t go trick or treating anymore, they tried one year and the old lady about three blocks down from Beomgyu scared them away, chasing them with a broom. Never again, they vowed that night. Instead of getting chased by the terrifying arms of an old woman, they stopped by their local convenience store and bought their own candy. The candy was usually half-off on halloween, the store already getting a start on getting rid of all the excess candy no one bought. 

On this particular day of October 5th, four days after Beomgyu’s interaction with Soobin, the boy had his headphones in and was putting away the paints he had finished using. Taehyun had said a half-assed goodbye to him when he left, leaving the blonde boy to clean up. He didn’t fuss, there was no arguing with Taehyun, he could be ruthless. He was driven out of his music induced state with two hands poking into his sides. He yelped and almost dropped the can of blue paint he held in his left hand, while turning around quickly, to see the tall figure of Yeonjun leaning on his knees with laughter. The younger sighed, and pushed his headphones he had borrowed from his dad down to around his neck.

“Are you fucking serious dude?! I could've dropped that paint.” Beomgyu rolled his eyes and pushed Yeonjun over onto the floor with his foot before turning around and placing the can of paint on the wooden shelf. He could hear Yeonjun’s witch cackle die down, and the boy turned around and sat down on a nearby wooden block. Yeonjun was still laying down looking up at Beomgyu. 

“I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever, I missed you.” Yeonjun put on his best pout and held his head in his hands as he looked up at the boy. Beomgyu didn’t look amused, but let out a chuckle, shaking his head at Yeonjun’s antics. 

“I’m sure you’ve been fine Yeonjun.” The boy put his hand in his pockets to pause his walkman, the music previously on still blasting through the headphones around his neck. Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows and brought his legs in front of him to criss-cross them. 

“What do you mean by that Gyu?” Beomgyu laughed and put his hands behind his head before leaning back slightly, not enough to fall, but enough to stretch his aching back. 

“Nothing Junnie, I’m just sure you’ve been just fine not hanging out with me.” The blonde himself faltered a bit, but kept smiling. Yeonjun sighed and jumped to his feet, and before Beomgyu could protest, the blue haired senior put him in a loving headlock, petting the smaller boy's hair. Beomgyu immediately tried to pry Yeonjun off of himself.

“Hey! Let go of me you asshat!” Beomgyu laughed and grunted as Yeonjun pet his hair more intensely.

“How dare you insinuate I’d be fine without you Choi Beomgyu! You’re stuck with me you prick so don’t sell yourself short! Well, you are short but-” 

“Don’t insult my height you brute! Okay okay will you let me go now?” Yeonjun’s grip suddenly ceased and Beomgyu was sent flying to the ground with his own momentum. While he grabbed his glasses that had flown onto the ground, Yeonjun laid on top of Beomgyu’s small body. 

“Get off! You’re crushing me!” Yeonjun scoffed and turned to lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling as he continued to crush Beomgyu under him.

“Wow, you didn’t have to insult my weight like that Beomgyu, I thought we were friends.” The boy put a hand over his heart in fake pain as the small boy wriggled underneath him. Finally after 5 minutes of Beomgyu cursing at him, Yeonjun jumped up, allowing the boy a moment to stand up and breathe. The senior had his arms crossed and was smiling at Beomgyu with pride. 

“Jeez, can’t breathe around you sometimes.” Beomgyu muttered and sat back down on the ground. Yeonjun jumped on top of the box Beomgyu had been sitting on, crouching and seemingly pondering something. 

“Beomgyu, we’re going out today.” Yeonjun’s proposition left Beomgyu intrigued.

“I’m listening.” The blue haired boy smirked and reached into his leather jacket pocket and pulled out 5 dollars. Beomgyu crossed his arms and nodded, signaling him to speak. 

“We’re going to the movies and watching that new movie that came out today called ‘Teachers’, and we’re gonna get snacks, and you’re gonna like it.” Chuckling, Beomgyu walked past Yeonjun and grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder before smiling.

“Even if this movie sucks, I’ll eat the snacks.” The breeze of the cold autumn air hit them as they walked out the building. This time, Beomgyu had brought his dark green windbreaker as it began to become colder. Yeonjun skipped and danced through the parking lot with his headphones on and his Walkman in hand, smiling and yelling the lyrics to the song playing that they both knew. Beomgyu joined and shook his shoulder singing along, he didn’t need the beat to sing along to ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ that was released earlier in the year. Needless to say Beomgyu and Yeonjun were obsessed with Scorpions. Yeonjun did a spin as he reached into his pocket and twirled the keys to his shabby looking Chevy truck in his hands. 

Beomgyu opened the passenger side door and jumped in, placing his feet on the dash and rolling down the window. Yeonjun came in soon after, turning the keys in the dial and bringing the car to life. The boy grabbed his round orange tinted sunglasses that were in front of the wheel, the thin object had tape on them, but he always wore them when they were in the car. 

“Hey, get your feet off my dash, were you raised in the barn?” Yeonjun smacked the boy's leg and started to pull out of the student parking lot. Beomgyu pouted and put his legs down, opting to lay his head against the window frame and put his hand outside. He opened his hand and flexed his fingers as the wind ran through them. As if being able to read minds, Yeonjun leaned over to Beomgyu side of the car and opened the glove compartment, shuffling through it before grabbing a cassette with a piece of tape over it. 

“I’ve been adding to it, well as much as I can with the sporadic radio.” The blonde laughed and grabbed the cassette before looking at it, reading the piece of tape that read “Epic Fucking Mixtape” on it. 

“Yeah? Well let’s see if you have a good taste in music after all.” Pressing play, the car started to play the music. Both boys instantly recognized the song as ‘Runaway’ by Bon Jovi that had come out the summer before. The two had tried to perform it on guitar in Yeonjun’s garage the whole summer, doing it, but in Yeonjun’s words, not capturing the whole essence of the song. 

Beomgyu kept his hand out the window, liking the feeling of the wind whipping against his hand. He liked being in Yeonjun’s car. Sometimes they’d be gone till late at night, of course to Beomgyu’s mother’s dismay, but his father always backed him up. His dad wanted him to live out his teenage years to the fullest. But on the nights his mother didn’t let him, he’d leave his hoodie on a pillow and put it in his usual place in bed before jumping out his window. Yeonjun would normally be parked about 5 blocks down, rock music blasting through the closed windows of the car. They would drive down to trails and sit by the creaks or small waterfalls in the wooded area where they lived. On some days they would drive down to the abandoned train station and spray paint on the compartments left there. Beomgyu smiled at the memory, he really did love being Yeonjun’s friend. With his left hand, he turned down the music slightly.

“So why do you want to go to the movies anyway? We don’t usually go to the movies.” Yeonjun chuckled and flicked his eye at Beomgyu before looking back at the road ahead of him. 

“I thought you’d enjoy a treat. Seems like you’ve had a pretty shitty two weeks painted sets for Mrs. Whatever-the-fuck-her-name-is.” The boy snickered and lowered his glasses to the tip of his nose to glance at Beomgyu. The younger groaned and threw his head back against the car seat headrest. He took his hand out from the window to snake it down under the seat, which instantly flew back, sending Beomgyu back as well. Yeonjun held in his laugh and he looked at the defeated figure of Beomgyu laying down on the collapsed car seat, not making any move to get up. 

“It’s been shit, but I've met some new people.” At that Beomgyu felt the car jolt to a stop, and he flew up as Yeonjun’s tires skid across the ground, his car swerving next to the sidewalk to park. 

“Christ almighty Yeonjun the fuck are you doing!-“ 

“You met new people?!” The smile on Yeonjun’s face had Beomgyu slightly puzzled. 

“Y-yeah?” Beomgyu rolled his eyes and laid back down as Yeonjun put his hand over his heart slowly, a fond look on his face. 

“I already know what you’re going to say so don’t-“

“I’m so proud of you Gyu holy shit!” The boy grabbed the front of Beomgyu’s shirt and pulled him into a tight hug, the position slightly awkward as they were in the car. 

“Who are they?” A valid question. Beomgyu considered his options before deciding to answer. He knew Yeonjun was just really excited for him. I mean, Yeonjun was the only one Beomgyu had made an effort to become friends with or even talk friendly to since he entered highschool. Even before that he wasn’t much of a social person. 

“Kang Tae-Terry, and Huening Kai.” 

“Ah, a fine choice in people, I know Taehyun. I know Kai, but not as well.” Beomgyu raised his eyebrow. 

“How do you know Terry- Taehyun? Is okay with you calling him Taehyun?” Yeonjun chuckled and put his hands behind his head and looked up.

“Yeah he’s okay with it. We met at a house party maybe two years ago? That’s all the information you need to know.” He closed his eyes and smiled to himself, still listening to the music playing through the car. 

“Two years ago? Wouldn’t I have known?” 

“Tsk tsk, a magician never reveals his secrets, Beomgyu.” The blonde scoffed and crossed his arms, looking up at the top of the car, still laying down with the car seat. 

“Fine be like that, don’t we have a movie to get to dumbass.” 

“Ugh such a mom, making sure we’re on time-“ 

“Shut up and drive Daniel.”

**Author's Note:**

> eeee thanks for reading, my updates will be inconsistent but i hope you enjoyed so far, i'm very excited to write this.
> 
> my friend also wanted it up on wattpad so if you want to read it there my username is @animetiddies2890 nickname Grass (dont judge me) 
> 
> well shit yeah thanks  
> -grass


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